John Lewis goes on senior hiring spree in push to modernise brand May 28, 2021 John Lewis has made three new senior hires to support its plans to transform and grow the business after a tough year. The new hires will focus on developing John Lewis’s online store, the retailer’s physical estates and branding. Steve Masterton will become director of online trade. He joins the partnership from Dunelm, where he [...]
Tate & Lyle revenue sinks, but still brought home around £2.8bn May 27, 2021 Food and beverage ingredient supplier Tate & Lyle saw its revenue sink £75m in the year to 31 March, the group said in a statement this morning, but still raked in around £2.8bn. The British-headquartered firm saw strong demand for its new products, with the newcomers raking in 21 per cent more revenue, worth £133m. [...]
Tesco is trying to give quick delivery apps a run for their money May 26, 2021 Tesco is set to launch a new rapid delivery service which will allow the supermarket giant to shuttle orders to customers doorsteps in less than an hour. The supermarket chain will first trial the Whoosh delivery service at its Wolverhampton Willenhall Express store – assessing its potential for a wider rollout. It said that the [...]
Boris Johnson’s interventionist obesity strategy will fail. We need more choice, not less to slim down May 25, 2021 Obesity is on the rise like never before. More than one in four people in the UK are now obese, one of the driving forces behind the mortality rate from Covid. In the year leading up to the pandemic, more than a million people were admitted to hospital for obesity-related treatment in England. Record hospitalisations [...]
Grocery sales: Ocado on top as supermarkets snag 58m more visits as UK exited lockdown May 25, 2021 As the UK’s vaccination programme pushes on, supermarkets have enjoyed 58m more shopping visits in the first quarter of this year than last year, according to industry data released today. Supermarkets actually had more visits in the 12 weeks to 16 May, than when panic buying gripped shoppers at the start of the pandemic, market [...]
London ‘knowledge hacking’ app Uptime raises $3m from Youtube founder May 22, 2021 London-based education app Uptime has raised a further $3m (£2.1m) in a star-studded investment round from backers including Youtube co-founder Chad Hurley. Uptime, which describes itself as a “knowledge hacking app”, raised the funds as an extension to its seed round, bringing its total raised so far to $19m. Hurley, who is also an investor [...]
Pret A Manger trades city centres for Pret-rol stations May 21, 2021 Pret A Manger is set to open new shops in petrol stations owned by the Motor Fuel Group (MFG), the café said today, in a well-needed boost for roadside stops. Wither fewer people travelling and going to work, petrol stations have suffered a sales slump of 13.3 per cent compared with the same month two [...]
Oprah-backed startup Oatly raises $1.4bn in stock market debut May 20, 2021 Swedish vegan milk startup Oatly, which is backed by US talk show star Oprah Winfrey, has raised $1.4bn (£987m) in its initial public offering in New York. The company, which is also backed by Natalie Portman, Jay Z and former Starbucks boss Howard Shultz, today said it priced 84.4m shares at $17 each — the [...]
Morrisons online sales continue to soar despite lockdown easing May 11, 2021 Morrisons said online sales have continued to soar this year despite the lifting of lockdown restrictions. In an update this morning the supermarket chain said online sales were up 113 per cent in the 14 weeks ended 9 May compared to the same period last year. Internet sales helped boost group like-for-like sales excluding fuel [...]
Pret a Manger plots Tesco store launch in bid to shake off City image May 11, 2021 Pret a Manger is planning to open stores in Tesco supermarkets as it looks to shrug off its reputation as a hotspot for office workers. The trial partnership marks efforts by the coffee chain to broaden its appeal, with boss Pano Christou saying he wanted to “bring Pret to the people”. Its first concession will [...]